Gibson acquires MESA Boogie

[Lobomov]

Curious, how do you know this? Is this a typo? I don't know details, myself, but it only makes sense that RS had many suitors and was able to choose the best deal, which certainly had to include being well-compensated for a "platinum level" brand with an unmatched reputation.

It's a typo .. The word "not" wasn't supposed to be there. I mean the owner of Mesa has cashed in and gotten ready for retirement

I don't take that view. But there's a ton of empirical proof that Gibson has driven their own brand into the ground over many years running.

Are we sure about this .. It actually has been argued a lot that the guitar part of Gibson has been profitable, but it was them going into stuff like Phillips that put them on the brink of bankrupcy.

Going into amps is at least within their feels of expertise

[silvertonebetty]

I've wanted a Mesa Boogie amp since I saw this ad way back when (1979?)
Wanted that Les Paul, too.

To me, Boogie always stood for an uncompromising level of professional quality. I always knew that any Mesa product was pro quality and not some piece of consumer garbage made to turn a quick profit. Can't say that for many other manufacturers.

I finally bought a MkV25 when they first came out and I was not disappointed although a lot of manufacturers would've assumed that a low watt, lunch box head was for hobbyists and therefore a candidate for cost saving and cutting corners. Not Mesa.

I just hope the "new" Mesa keeps their old philosophies intact.

Looks like my Mesa . It’s as old as mine lol


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[starjasmine]

Are we sure about this .. It actually has been argued a lot that the guitar part of Gibson has been profitable, but it was them going into stuff like Phillips that put them on the brink of bankrupcy.

All I'm saying is that the company overall has been in dire financial trouble for a hell of a long time. If they go under, the newly acquired Mesa will go with them. That doesn't mean Mesa will die. Maybe someone else will snap up the IP. Or maybe it'll wind up in the courts for years. All we can do is hope for the best :-)

[Stringswinger]

My current Mesa amp is the Mark V 25 combo, a superb jazz guitar tube amp....

[steve burchfield]

I have read and heard that Fender Deluxe Reverb R.I. amps sound better with the BRIGHT CAP removed. Will someone please explain this to me and anyone else interested?

[citizenk74]

I've wanted a Mesa Boogie amp since I saw this ad way back when (1979?)
Wanted that Les Paul, too.

To me, Boogie always stood for an uncompromising level of professional quality. I always knew that any Mesa product was pro quality and not some piece of consumer garbage made to turn a quick profit. Can't say that for many other manufacturers.

I finally bought a MkV25 when they first came out and I was not disappointed although a lot of manufacturers would've assumed that a low watt, lunch box head was for hobbyists and therefore a candidate for cost saving and cutting corners. Not Mesa.

I just hope the "new" Mesa keeps their old philosophies intact.

Same here. A guy I knew had a string of 'em starting with the Mark I and going at least through Mark IV. He continually irked me by selling them to other people, without even letting me know they were for sale. I would have paid any price asked or bettered any offer. He could play quite well, but whenever i asked him what he was playing, he couldn't (or wouldn't) say "this is a Cm7#9" or that it was minor or 7th or #9 or even, in fact, it was a C. A certain cognitive dissonance there. Could play Holdsworth licks; couldn't name notes. Any way, never got a Boogie, now it's physically out of the question. Oh well....

[steve burchfield]

I worked at a music store in Mt. Juliet Tenn. in the late eighties when Gibson allowed employees to buy"seconds" once a year and of course they could sell them. My boss in the music store allowed me to buy a Gibson 175 for 250$ as long as he could do a fret recrown which I was happy to do. The word second was stamped into the headstock,but the imperfection was so minor I could never tell what it was.I am glad Gibson used to allow that.

[ccroft]

I've posted Mesa love a few times, but I'll do it again. Bought a 'no mark' 100 watt version with the old Altec in '76. Had to phone Randy and send a money order to get in line. Received about 6 months later. Played and gigged that for 15 years in trad jazz, latin, fusion and 'art rock'. Never ever let me down. But man... talk about a boat anchor. Sold it in '92 and got the Studio 22+.

No gigging since then. Last 3 years or so I'm playing Quilter, but I still fire the 22 up from time to time:

[rpjazzguitar]

A chain just bought a popular chef-owned local restaurant.

Will the quality remain the same or improve? Maybe, but that's not the way you bet.

[jazzkritter]

Never bought one but always liked the Mesa amps. I use a Mesa Boogie EV Thiel cabinet if that counts

Hey just cause Gibson was bailed out by a venture capital firm, and are being run by those type folks, doesn’t mean that the acquisition of Mesa is going to go south. Of course not. (Thick, gooey sarcasm)))
CJ can say he loves guitars but when the investors knock at the door for payout time, the fun will start. I’ve seen a few guys like him in action close up, you’d be surprised how good they are at throwing entire companies under the bus to save their skins. The end will be cold and swift. Interesting that KKR doesn’t even list Gibson on their website lists of capital partners. I’m sure it’s just inadvertent.

Honestly, I kinda miss Henry J. Met him a couple of times and he came across honest, a bit lame, but honest.

Oh if you didn’t see it, guess who Gibsons newest endorser/signature issue is.... Gene Simmons.

[ccroft]

Gene Simmons!!?? That does it. I'm gonna buy Gibson again for the first time in 40 years. :)

[Hammertone]

I'd fall off the wagon for this. I checked a couple of them out and they are quite delightful.

[silvertonebetty]

does this mean my Mesa’s value will sky rocket??? I actually really like this old amp and Mesa tech support told me it started it’s life at the end of 79 and was finished in early 80 .

[Danny W.]

In 1991 I checked out a MKIV/EV12L combo. Loved the amp, thought it was welded to the floor when I tried to lift it. My solution was a MKIV short head. For a cab I first tried the 12L Thiele, found it too boomy. Next tried the 12L open-back, found it too thin. Put them together and it was perfect; for the next 10 years that was my rock/pop rig. For jazz gigs I still used my Polytones, although I did occasionally use the Boogie head with one of the cabs. Also had a Studio 22+ that I liked quite a bit.

I stopped using tube amps in 2002 --not for the first time, which was in the early '70's, but this is the longest I've stayed on the wagon. Still tempted by the MK5 10" combo, but not so much I'd actually buy one; I have all the Boogie sound I need in my Fractal Audio Axe-Fx III.

As for Gibson & Mesa, I wish them well. Randy is 75 and says he still works every day. When I turn 75 I will have been retired for 22 years.

1992:


Something smaller for rehearsals and home use:



Danny W.

[rpjazzguitar]

The Boogie combo is hard to move, but when it stops, it really stays there.

I got mine with separate head and cab because the combo unit was ridiculous to lift.

The cab isn't too bad.

The head is so heavy that if you put a drink on it, the whole thing starts bending light around itself and you can't see it. Still sounds great, of course.

[ccroft]

does this mean my Mesa’s value will sky rocket??? I actually really like this old amp and Mesa tech support told me it started it’s life at the end of 79 and was finished in early 80 .

It might. Here's a tip from a long time Mesa player: if you're looking for a better jazz tone, take that Boogie face plate off. (see my 22+). You can always put it back on when it comes time to cash out :-)

[Spook410]

What modelers have you used?

I think modelers that you can get at cheap price points are way better than ones you could have got say 10 years ago.

But, at the very high end, it’s a different story. Fractal Audio - the price of their new top offerings has been the same $2500. And they’ve had real bad rollout issues with their latest offering. Bugs that they haven’t been able to fix for months. So, they are not getting cheaper, and audio and feature-wise they are better, but overall product is not necessarily better as parts of it are unusable.

Digital progress is not linear here. It’s asymptotic. Getting that last 10% of audio quality in a stable platform will be very difficult, at any price point. Making it within an average musician’s budget will be even harder.

then, you add the fact that your modeler is obsolete every few years (very little resale value)

While not germane to whether or not expensive tube amp manufacturers are a good investment in 2021, I'm currently using a Strymon Iridium. Works quite well. Will be interesting to see the next generation.

IMHO, it's not the Fractal Audio's that will take over market share. Suspect they have their own problems right now. I would predict it will be Line 6, pedal makers, and amp makers like Fender and Vox moving to modeling. As for it being asymptotic we're already at a point where many claim equivalency in a Fender Tonemaster. But putting that aside, I would see it more along the line of how the analog film camera was dead well before we had affordable 24mp sensors. Technology insertion doesn't require perfection. Just a compelling value proposition.

[Spook410]

Epiphone was a first rate company, an actual competitor to Gibson when bought. Soon after they became student grade instruments, mostly targeted towards beginner and low budget market. How would that be considered better? Of course one can argue that they may have gone out of business long ago other wise..

Epiphone seemed to make more sense than Stanton Group, Onkyo, and Teac. And in the end some good came of that. But at the time, they were a brand flogged into the 'not as good as a Gibson' role.

[Lobomov]

A chain just bought a popular chef-owned local restaurant.

Will the quality remain the same or improve? Maybe, but that's not the way you bet.

Plenty of chains run a wide range of businesses successfully .. Henry J and his gang that got Gibson entangled in questionable expansions is what it is, but the chain argument is not universally true. Good business men are good business men.

[silvertonebetty]

Epiphone seemed to make more sense than Stanton Group, Onkyo, and Teac. And in the end some good came of that. But at the time, they were a brand flogged into the 'not as good as a Gibson' role.

I hate what Gibson did to epiphone like fender did with squier. Fender put squier out of business.


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[Lobomov]

Fender put squier out of business.

Squier sells more guitars than any other brand on this planet

[silvertonebetty]

Squier sells more guitars than any other brand on this planet

Do you realize they never used to make guitars. Fender bought them out and drove them under and brought them back in 81-82


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[silvertonebetty]

Squier sells more guitars than any other brand on this planet

They started in 1890 and was bought and ended by fender’s hands in 75 .


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[Lobomov]

Do you realize they never used to make guitars. Fender bought them out and drove them under and brought them back in 81-82

So what are you so sorely missing that Squier used to make .. Squier mandolins or Squier phonographs?

As I can tell most of Squiers business was as a supplier of strings and maybe parts to Fender, which was maintained after Fender bought them out, but just rebranded to the Fender name? Since then Fender starting 1982 made Squier the brand that sells the largest number of guitars worldwide.


I guess this is one of those ELI5 situation cause I just don't get the issue. Explain it to me Like I'm 5, how we as guitar players have suffered due to Fender buying out Squier?

[silvertonebetty]

So what are you so sorely missing that Squier used to make .. Squier mandolins or Squier phonographs?

As I can tell most of Squiers business was as a supplier of strings and maybe parts to Fender, which was maintained after Fender bought them out, but just rebranded to the Fender name? Since then Fender starting 1982 made Squier the brand that sells the largest number of guitars worldwide.


I guess this is one of those ELI5 situation cause I just don't get the issue. Explain it to me Like I'm 5, how we as guitar players have suffered due to Fender buying out Squier?

No you are missing my point all together. Like you just said they used to make a lot more than Guitars. Then fender shut them down making everyone loose there jobs for what? Actually I had an jv telecaster and it was a good guitar and I’d rather squier over epiphone. The soul purpose of my post wast to point out its not only Gibson that has destroyed a company. Because let’s face it if imported guitars didn’t blow up like they did no one would remember the brand squier .


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